


The Long and Drawn Out Courtship of Drs. Gottlieb and Geiszler

by round_robin



Category: Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: F/M, Gender Swapped Hermann, The Kaiju War, gender swap
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-06
Updated: 2014-06-06
Packaged: 2018-02-03 16:18:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,848
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1750913
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/round_robin/pseuds/round_robin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Newt totally believed in love at first sight. Love at first read was something he had to convince himself of, because when he first read Dr. H. Gottlieb’s paper, he fell in love at the first sentence.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Long and Drawn Out Courtship of Drs. Gottlieb and Geiszler

**Author's Note:**

> I've wanted to do a gender swapped Hermann fic for a while, but it was delayed for several reasons. 1. I couldn't think of a new name, 2. I couldn't think of an ending, 3. I couldn't think of a title, and 4. I couldn't think of a reason for the leg injury.
> 
> Concerning the latter, I've read a few fics where the prevailing diagnosis is MS, which is cool and accurate, but I wanted to do something different. I myself have leg problems stemming from a really nasty break when I was younger. When I used to live in a humid place, it was really bad and I probably would've needed a cane later in my life. Since I know about my injury, I decided to give it to Hermann (named Herta in this fic) my injury, just a little worse. I didn't crack my pelvis, but Herta did. I hope this will be viewed as me "writing what I know" as intended, rather than a shameless self-insert.
> 
> I toyed with the idea of gender swapping them both, but Hermann as a woman seemed too awesome to me. I imagine she would be the kind of woman who wouldn't shave because she doesn't care what people think, and wouldn't mind standing up to men because she knows they're dumber than her and that's all that matters. I loved that. So yeah, I just really loved the idea of fem!Hermann.
> 
> If you find a typo, please include it with your comment and it'll be seen it. Enjoy!

1.

Newt totally believed in love at first sight. He was a biologist, how could he not? Love in general was all brain chemistry and pheromones, love at first sight was the same thing on a faster scale. The chemicals for both could be fleeting, which didn’t make it any less real.

Love at first read was something Newt had to convince himself of, because when he first read Dr. H. Gottlieb’s paper _On the Extradimensional Properties of the Kaiju Breach_ , he fell in love at the first sentence. He’d admired other academic minds before, but it was nothing like this. It became one of his life goals to meet and work with Dr. Gottlieb. This goal was situated next to “stop the Kaiju invasian,” most likely, if he ever got a chance to work with Gottlieb it would be about stopping the Kaiju. So there was that.

When he got an offer from the Lima Shatterdome and saw Gottlieb’s name on the researcher list, Newt nearly broke his computer at how fast he replied YES. About to meet his biggest science crush! He hoped the dude would at least let Newt buy him a drink. Or coffee, whatever. He’s German, and yeah, Newt hadn’t been home for a while, and he’d never been to Garmisch-Partenkirchen ever, but all Germans love coffee. Totally his way in to seriously pick Gottlieb’s brain and possibly make him fall in love with Newt’s brain too. It could so happen.

He arrived for his first day and welcome tour wearing a clean shirt, and he even ran a comb through his hair. Anyone who knew Newt could tell he meant to make a good impression. His tour guide (some PR wing military person, not interesting) met him with a wide smile and a pressed uniform.

He held out his hand. “Dr. Geiszler, so good to meet you. I’m--”

Newt grabbed his hand and gave the bare minimum that could constitute a shake. “Spare all the facilities jazz. As long as my room has four walls and a bed, I’m good, and I can eat in any mess hall. Show me the lab.”

The PR smile didn’t waver. “Right down to work. That’s the kind of attitude we like to see around here.”

He gave Newt his temp ID card and credentials (seven day waiting period, blah, blah, blah) and led him to the lift. On the way, the guy bored him with facts about the K-Sci team at the facility, things Newt already looked up and memorized. Eight biologists, six coders, specialized training chamber for testing new Drift tech, and all the other PPDC bells and whistles. All Newt cared about was Gottlieb. He needed to meet Gottlieb and his life goals would be on their way to fulfillment.

The uniform swiped them into the lab and started in on more redundant info. Newt was aggressively not listening as his head swiveled around, looking for Gottlieb.

What would he be like? Newt had thought about that a lot. Born in the same country six-ish months apart, surely that would give them a lot in common. All of his usual thoughts fell out of his head as he looked around the room for one of the most pivotal minds of his generation.

After a few fruitless minutes of his pigeon impression, Newt finally noticed little name plates tacked to the desks and work stations. Duh. He started down the long aisle, looking for H. Gottlieb.

A desk was shoved next to a large chalkboard in the far corner of the room. Nailed to the desk (and the chalkboard) Newt saw “H. Gottlieb.” He smiled at his find and looked up the ladder in front of the board. At the top, he saw a smallish woman, one arm wrapped around the ladder, the other extended out to finish a formula almost out of reach. Her sleeves were rolled up to minimize chalk dust transfer, and her hair was pulled back into a hasty, yet functional, ponytail. The cut of her clothes suggested they were made for a man (a much fatter man) and the jacket that hung on the desk chair said the same. She was complete with elbow patches and argyle socks. There was a black cane with a silver grip leaning against the desk as well. A pair of surprisingly dainty gold-rimmed glasses hung on a chain around her neck.

As she completed the equation, Newt’s brain caught up with his eyes. “Dr. H. Gottlieb?” he asked.

The chalk squeaked to a halt. She moved over so she was more securely on the ladder and used her non-chalk hand to pull her glasses off. Then she turned and looked down her nose at Newt. “Yes?” she asked.

Newt’s heart kicked in his chest. He swore he could feel his brain firing off endorphins and oxytocin and all sorts of wonderful neurotransmitters. He knew what love at first sight felt like, and this right here was it.

“Dr. H. Gottlieb?” he said again, feeling dumb, but he couldn’t think of anything else.

“Yes,” she said, a little sharper this time. “Do you need something?”

“You’re...” One wonderfully unplucked, bushy, yet well-shaped eyebrow arched and Newt’s brain exploded. “Not what I expected.” Not by a long shot, and oh what an amazing surprise it was.

The other eyebrow moved up to join its friend before they both came down to shade her dark eyes. “Were you expecting some moustached old boy with a sweater vest and a protractor stuffed up his arse?” she snapped.

Most of the time when Newt didn’t know what to say, he said the first thing that popped into his mind. “You’re wearing a sweater vest.” Which was never really a good idea.

The chalk shook, but did not break, in her hand. “Who are you? What do you want?”

Newt suddenly seemed to pull himself together, at least “together” enough to remember his name. “I’m Newt Geiszler, and it’s one of my life goals to work with you. Mostly, I took this posting because I knew you were here. Your work on--”

“Dr. Newton Geiszler?” she cut him off. “ _You’re_ Dr. Newton Geiszler?”

“Yeah,” he said, grateful for something to say that didn’t sound stupid. “You can call me Newt.”

She climbed down the ladder and stood right in front of him. Her mouth hung open and all the previous sourness seemed to be gone. “You’re Dr. Newton Geiszler.” It wasn’t a question this time, more like an accusation. “You’re the foremost expert in Kaiju Biology. You’re the one who wrote the seminal paper on the taxonomy of the Kaiju.” Her eyes flicked down to Newt’s arms, taking in the lurid tattoos. With his sleeves down, they were mostly covered, but Newt was never a fan of buttoning his cuffs and a few tentacles were visible. “You.”

“Yeah,” was all Newt could think to say. “Me.”

Her back straightened enough to make her just an inch or so taller. Enough to look down her nose at him again. “Well. Your work certainly gives one a different impression.”

Newt blinked a few times, letting her words settle in. When everything caught up, he shook himself. “Wait,” he said. “Are _you_ judging _me_ on _my_ appearance?” Her back stiffened a little more as she went back to the ladder. “We’re scientists! Who cares what we look like as long as our findings are sound? Like you said: my papers are seminal! And so are yours! Your neural bridge programming is flawless. The first time I read your code, I cried! Actual tears, dude.”

She seemed to be ignoring him now, back to the board and her equations. “What’s going on here?” Newt asked. He stepped around the ladder, putting himself in her sight line. “I don’t match my reputation and you brush me aside? What’s the deal with that?”

She stopped writing and looked down at him. “I didn’t expect a Kaiju groupie, you didn’t expect a woman. We’re both disappointed. Now please leave me to my work!”

"I don’t care that you’re a woman,” Newt said. She stopped writing again, but didn’t look at him. “I didn’t expect anything. I knew H. Gottlieb was one of the greatest scientific minds of our generation, and nothing I’ve seen disproves that.” He gestured to the board. “Your equations are genius. You’re trying to locate the Breach, right?”

Her mouth dropped open before she remembered her composure. She’d had this equation up for weeks and not one of her colleagues had figured out what she was doing. Geiszler did it with a glance. “Very astute,” she mumbled, and went back to writing. Newt smiled and mentally pat himself on the back. “You should finish your tour,” she said.

Newt nodded and backed away from the chalkboard. “Yeah. I’ll see you later.”

Okay, so it didn’t go as well as he’d imagined, but he got her to stop yelling at him. From what that small conversation told him about Gottlieb, he was on his way to really impressing her. He wondered what the H stood for. Eh, he’d find out eventually. Despite the first bumps in the road, Newt was floating on air. Not only had she heard of his work, she dug it. He was halfway to his goal of saving the world with Dr. H. Gottlieb as his partner.

**  
  
**

2.

As luck would have it, the only empty lab space was right next to Gottlieb’s area. Newt tried not to smile too much as he moved his things into his new desk. She sat at her desk, occasionally throwing him glares. When he was all settled in, she actually got up from her figures and walked over to Newt.

“I would like you to know, my work is very important and needs my full concentration. I ask that you keep distractions to a minimum,” she said.

Newt waved a hand. “Nah, I won’t be distracting.” Unfortunately, the dissecting table and sample storage were in one area on the other side of the lab, so he would be over there a decent amount of the time. “I’ll be a great workspace buddy, promise.”

She didn’t say anything and returned to her desk. Newt plugged in his headphones and set to work.

He’d been over all the sample inventories on the computer before he arrived, so he already knew what he wanted to look at. He had a biological chart for Clawhook around here somewhere...

“Dr. Geiszler!” A sharp voice cut straight through the music blasting in his headphones.

He slipped them off and looked up to see Gottlieb standing right next to him. “Hey,” he said. “What’s up?”

“Do you realize,” she enunciated every word, like he was slow or something, “you were speaking your thoughts aloud?”

“Oh, that happens sometimes,” he said. “Whenever I have to stop mid-project and pick it up again, which, I had to do to come here. It was weird, the San Fran Shatterdome just packed up my entire project as soon as I was transferred here. It really ruined my flow. So to get back into it, sometimes I talk out what I’m doing.”

“Yes,” she said. “That’s all well and good, but your process is ruining my process. I assume you remember the conversation we had not two minutes ago about how I require a workspace free of distractions.”

“Of course,” Newt said.

She nodded her head, but didn’t say anything. Eventually, she sighed. “And what you are doing is a distraction.”

Newt’s smile fell. “Oh. Sorry.”

Seeming satisfied with this, she went back to her desk. The cane was still leaning next to her chair and she walked with a slight limp. It was only a few steps before she was seated again. Maybe she only needed the cane sometimes? Newt decided it would be a long term observation and went back to his work.

He found the chart he wanted and started making notes about which pieces he wanted to examine. Clawhook had an interesting hook-like protuberance at the end of its forelimbs. It didn’t seem very practical for swimming or any other locomotion, it was only useful for fighting, which made Newt think--

“You’re doing it again!”

Newt slid his headphones off and looked at Gottlieb. She didn’t bother getting up this time, just sat at her desk glaring at him. If looks could kill...

“Sorry,” he said. “I get caught up, you know? See, I’ve been trying to figure out why the Kaiju are so different in structure, but are still similar on more basic levels. And some of them don’t even seem to have any sort of evolutionary sense. Clawhook alone--”

“I did not ask about your work,” she cut him off. “I only wish to do mine. Be quiet, please!”

When she said “please,” it didn’t actually sound like a request. But Newt nodded all the same. “Right. Sorry dude.” Her jaw tightened and she turned back to her desk.

Before either of them could get too deep into it again, Newt said, “What does the H stand for?”

“What?”

He shrugged. “The H in your name. H. Gottlieb. What’s the H for?”

She looked him up and down before answering, possibly trying to see if he was crazy or something. “What does it matter?” she said.

Newt shrugged. “It doesn’t. Just curious.” He didn’t say any more about it. Slipping his headphones back on, he looked at his charts again and tried his best to stay quiet.

It wasn’t the best work buddies impression he could’ve made, but it wasn’t the worst. Back in his last Shatterdome, he accidentally spilled Kaiju vitreous humour on the floor and six of his former colleagues had to get new shoes. One had to get skin grafts on the bottom of her foot. They made him work outside in the hall for a week. But that wouldn’t happen with Gottlieb, he wouldn’t let it. He was going to be the best lab buddy ever, and then they were going to be friends forever. He had a plan.

**  
  
**

3.

“I got something for you.”

Newton’s sudden appearance made Gottlieb jump. She was always first in the lab and he was one of the set that wandered in after breakfast. She hardly knew what time it was in here. Only the work mattered.

She glared up at him. “What?” she growled. He held out a pair of large headphones and a small music device. “What are those?”

“Headphones!” he said, rather obviously. “And this,” he held up the small device, “is for white noise. It’s actually an mp3 player, but I loaded it up with white noise, ambient sounds... I think there’s pink noise on here too. I thought it could help you focus. Since I’m so loud and distracting, and I don’t want to be, but sometimes I can’t help it, I thought maybe this could help you. The headphones will block outside noises and you can set it to whatever you want.” He fiddled with the little thing. “I thought white noise at first, but I put a rain track on here too, ocean, and ambient night sounds. Oh! And coffee shop.”

“Coffee shop?” Newton spoke so quickly, she hardly knew where to get a word in. “What in the world does that mean?”

Newton shrugged. “You know, when you go to a coffee shop there’s lots of people having their own conversations and stuff, and you kind of tune it all out but there’s still that low murmur? It’s like that.” She didn’t say anything and Newton started to get nervous. “I’ve wanted to work with you for so long, I don’t want to mess this up with any annoying habits I have. I want us to save the world together and be friends. So I don’t want to interrupt you or make you angry. I figured this would help us both. I get to hang around with you, and you don’t get interrupted by me being loud.”

She stared at him for a moment before taking the headphones and mp3 player from Newton. “Thank you,” she said quietly. “People don’t usually... give me things.”

He shrugged. “People are stupid sometimes. Enjoy.” He retreated to his work station and put on his own headphones.

She slipped the headphones on and turned on the little music player. She selected white noise and hit play. The sound instantly cut through all the clutter inside her mind, all the extra thoughts telling her she needed to work harder to be better suddenly disappeared, leaving only beautiful, glorious numbers. This new clarity was invigorating and she felt supercharged with the need to work. Imagine the new breakthroughs she could produce like this! She tucked the tiny mp3 into her pocket and climbed up the ladder, continuing her formula from the other night.

The day went by with such productivity, she could hardly remember when she’d gotten so much done. When she’d worn down her last piece of chalk, she decided enough was enough. She stopped the sound and took a second to shake away the ringing in her ears. Her knees ached from being at the board for so long and it took extra effort to climb down. A hand appeared in her peripheral vision.

“What is it?” she asked Newton.

He blinked up at her, hand still hanging in the air next to her shoulder. “I thought you might want help,” he said. “You’ve been standing all day, and movement is good for blood circulation and brain power, but too much can make you stiff.”

She didn’t take the hand and climbed the last three ladder rungs by herself. “I don’t need help,” she said.

“I know,” Newton said, much to her shock. “Doesn’t mean you might not want it. People want all sorts of things they don’t need.”

“What is this?” she asked. “Why are you so... nice to me?” She was going to ignore it, if she ignored his attention it would make him go away. He was a fan of her work, which was wonderful, but if he thought knowing her work would get him somewhere, he had another thing coming. Even if she let him get there, he wouldn’t want her. This needed to stop now.

“I like you,” Newton said simply enough. “You’re a brilliant scientist, your papers are amazing. You’re a little thorny, but some scientists are like that. And look!” He opened his arms, gesturing to her blackboard. “I get to be on the forefront with you! That’s why they wanted me here! I’ve been studying the Kaiju anatomy, specifically what underwater capabilities they have and what in their physiology could suggest where the Breach is. I’m working on the biological part of your equations. With your math, and my unparalleled knowledge of Kaiju biology, we’ll win this thing together! Isn’t that exciting?”

It took a moment to wade through the string of words, but eventually she got there. “You like me for my work? Nothing else.” She shook her head. She’d heard that story before...

“Well, when we get to know each other better, I’ll like you for your personality, I guess. But for now, the science is all that matters. It’s all I need to know how awesome of a person you are. Science is more honest than people,” he said.

Naturally, he completely missed her fears. They were hers to live with, not his. She would just have to ignore him long enough and he would go away. That’s how it always was.

She didn’t say anymore and started gathering her things. Newton did the same and waited patiently by her desk as she tidied a bit before leaving. Reluctantly, she picked up her cane and started walking. He didn’t offer to carry her bag for her, which was a small relief. If he understood she could do for herself, maybe this would be easier than usual. He kept pace with her, deliberately slowing for her shorter, less energetic stride. She didn’t know how she felt about this yet.

Out in the hall, he nudged her arm. “What’s the H stand for?”

This again? “Why does it matter?”

“Just curious.”

**  
  
**

4.

Gottlieb was definitely warming up to him, Newt could tell. Last week, when they were debating their differing theories of about the location of the Breach, she only called him an “idiot child” twice. The week before, it was six. He was so growing on her.

All his stuff had finally arrived and he had his shoebox of a room set up just the way he liked. He put his personal coffee maker on the bare counter space next to his sink. It barely fit, but having proper coffee again was worth shoving other things out of the way. What they served in the mess was NOT coffee, not by a long shot. Newt was actually really good at making coffee and he’d somehow convinced himself it was the way to Gottlieb’s heart. He made two strong cups and took them to the lab with him. She would love it. She might even tell him her name!

When he got to the lab, Gottlieb wasn’t at her desk. Or her chalk board. “Huh,” Newt mumbled to himself. He started turning circles, looking all around. He gave up quickly and spotted one of the other coders. “Jay!” Jay Takahashi was a programmer from Japan and he’d been here just as long as Gottlieb. He’d seen them exchange civil words before, which practically made him her friend.

Jay turned and smiled at Newt. “What’s up?” he asked.

Newt nodded towards Gottlieb’s desk. “Where is she?”

His brow crinkled for a moment, like this was the first time he’d noticed she wasn’t there. “I don’t know,” he said. “Maybe she’s sick today?”

“Ha,” Newt laughed. How could he not laugh at that? Gottlieb sick. She’d come to work even if she had the Black Plague.

As soon as the thought ran through his mind, Newt’s worry doubled. What could possibly keep her away?

“Thanks,” he said and walked out of the lab, coffees still in hand.

He walked down to the east corridor. All the K-Sci people liked to have their rooms on the same level as the lab. Newt didn’t know which shoebox she’d been assigned to, but he’d definitely seen her in this hall before. The first time he did, he waved and she scowled. He was starting to think of her scowls as their version of flirting.

He was about to start knocking on doors when he saw “H. Gottlieb” on the outside of a door. Hands full of coffee, he used his elbow to knock. After a beat, he didn’t get an answer and started knocking again. She wasn’t in the lab and she didn’t go to the mess. She used the little communal kitchen at the end of the hall to cook her meals. Okay, maybe Newt sounded slightly stalkerish, but was is wrong to want to know things about his friends? Newt didn’t think so.

A solid minute went by of thumping his elbow against the door when at last a strained cry called out, “Just open the damn door!”

He carefully balanced on coffee on top of the other and did as he was asked. As soon as he was inside, he saw Gottlieb sitting on her bed. She looked okay...

“Newton!” she hissed and drew the old man sweater tighter around her shoulders. From what he could see, she didn’t have anything under it. “What the bloody hell do you want?”

Newt immediately dropped his eyes to the floor. “I made you coffee and brought it to the lab for you, but you weren’t there. You’re always there and I was worried. Jay said you might be sick but I know you’d go to the lab even if you had the Plague.” He glanced up quickly before rooting his gaze to the floor. “You don’t have the Plague, do you? I mean, a course of antibiotics clears it up these days, but I’m not in the mood to catch Plague today.”

“Any scientist worth a damn knows Plague is very hard to catch,” she snapped. “And stop talking about Plague!”

“Right-o,” he said. “Are you okay? Can I help with anything?”

“No. I’m fine. You can help by--ah!” A sharp cry interrupted her scathing words and Newt snapped into action.

He placed the coffees on the floor and flew over to the bed. He didn’t care about averting his eyes anymore, not when she sounded hurt. “Something’s wrong. Tell me, I can help, I love helping.”

Her hands were bone white, clutching the blankets spread over her legs. “It’s nothing.” At this juncture, Newt felt it was correct to ignore her wishes in order to help her. Something was obviously wrong and it wasn’t going to get better if he let her be stubborn.

Too fast for her, he grabbed at the blanket and lifted it up. Bright red, blue and purple bruises stained all the way up her outer thigh. “It’s nothing!” she insisted and grabbed the blanket from him.

“Oh no,” he said. “You’re not getting away with this.” He shoved her hands aside (he could’ve sworn she was hardy fighting back anymore) and lifted the blanket again. A large bruise extended from her hip almost down to her knee, and there was a scrape by her ankle. He saw a significant amount of scarring, but it was old. This was her bad leg, which only made the injury worse. He’d never asked about the cane or her leg or anything, but right now he needed to know.

“What happened?” he asked.

Grinding her teeth together, she told him. “Daniella... Something. The J Tech woman with the prosthetic leg. She was using the handicapped shower this morning, the one with the seat. All the showers have safety bars and the rubber treads on the floor, I thought I’d be fine for a short while. I slipped and...” she trailed off and shook her head. “I could barely make it back here before my leg gave out.” She picked at the sweater, slightly disgusted. “I couldn’t even finish dressing.”

Newt took a breath, he had to be calm about this. Sure, she put herself in danger by not telling anyone or going to the infirmary, but this wasn’t the time to be mad at her. He gave her hand a squeeze and lowered the blanket. “I’m gonna be right back. I’m gonna get some ice packs and extra pillows. Don’t move.”

She rolled her eyes but he was already out the door. Ten minutes later, Newt had pilfered ice packs from every med bag on the floor, grabbed three extra pillows from the laundry and two from his room. He only had two and was going to bring one but changed his mind.

Her bed was shoved in the corner, so he didn’t have to get too creative. He made a cushiony surface for her to lean back against and elevated her leg with the remaining two pillows. She rolled over on her side and was partially facing away from him. She probably wouldn’t have let him help her any other way. He used one of her blankets to make a buffer between her skin and the ice packs before laying two across her leg. She hissed at the contact, but didn’t protest.

They both stayed quiet for a few minutes after that. Newt noticed she didn’t ask him to leave, which made him happy.

“Oh!” He suddenly remembered the coffee. “I brought coffee!” He slid across the floor on his butt and picked up the cups. He held one out to her. “Here, it’ll keep you warm while you have the ice packs on.”

She gave him a look before sniffing the coffee. “This doesn’t smell like the vile brew from the canteen.”

“It’s not,” Newt said and sipped at his own. “I made it.”

Her eyebrows arched for a second before her attention turned back to the cup in her hand. After another experimental sniff, she brought it to her lips and drank. Her eyes fell shut and her groan of satisfaction would keep Newt happy for days.

“This is amazing,” she said. “How did you learn to make coffee like this?”

“My uncle was in the recording business and I’d hang out with him in the summers. He would send me on coffee runs and there was a really great place own by an old Austrian couple. One summer they taught me how to brew and I worked there for extra cash,” he said. “Also, I grew up in Berlin, where the only place you find crappy coffee is at the stupid McDonalds.”

She nodded and took another sip of coffee. She turned back to face the wall and it got quiet again. Newt didn’t mind. He bussied himself making sure her ice packs were still cold. He had like ten more in case he needed to replace them. The med staff was probably going to hunt him down when they found all their med bags burgled, but he didn’t let that bother him now.

“You can ask,” she said after a few minutes. Holding her coffee in front of her lips, she mumbled, “If you want. You can ask about my leg.”

“What if I don’t care?”

She peered at him over her shoulder for a second before going back to staring at the wall. “Aren’t you curious?”

Oh was he ever. “Yeah,” he said. “But only if you want to tell me.”

She sighed softly and started telling the story. “I was in a car accident when I was fifteen. Multiple breaks in my tibia and fibula, and a total break of my femur. Minor fracture of my pelvis. It took an external fixator, a rod, and three screws. Everything healed fine, but once your ruin a leg, it’s hard to get it back.”

Newt nodded. “Working with the PPDC couldn’t’ve helped. Coastal cities are higher in humidity.”

“Yes,” she said. “The cane appeared a few months after I received my first PPDC post. I used to be fine without it and only used it after long hours on my feet. As the years go by... I fear I’ll never be rid of it. Not even when this is over and I can move somewhere more temperate and less prone to natural disaster.”

“I wouldn’t exactly call Kaiju a ‘natural’ disaster.”

“No. Hurricanes, typhoons, monsoons, and tsunamis. The lot of it. I haven’t felt dry for years.” She pulled the sweater closer around her shoulders and went back to the coffee.

They didn’t talk for a while. Newt swapped out the ice packs and sat contentedly on the floor next to her bed. Usually, inactivity bored him and he could never sit still for more than a minute. Being around Gottlieb was calming, no... it was fascinating. His observations and the new facts gave him loads to think about. Like the soft brown hair covering her legs. It partly obscured her scar tissue and it looked so soft. He wondered if she’d let him touch her legs. Not now, that would be inappropriate and probably hurt. But later, when they became best friends forever. Friends did stuff like that, right? Saw each other in unglamourous moments; had pajama days where they lay around doing nothing, eating terrible food and watching bad movies. If they ever got to that stage of friendship, maybe she wouldn’t mind him casually rubbing her leg. Maybe it would even help the poor, abused and atrophied muscles.

“Why are you doing this?” she said suddenly.

Newt had to take a second and snap out of his thoughts. “Doing what?”

“Helping me.” The cup in her hand was empty, but she kept it pressed near her face like she was still drinking it. Her words came out in a muffled whisper. “You saw I wasn’t in the lab and you came to check on me. Now you’re treating my injury. Why?”

“Because... we’re friends.” Newt enunciated each word, mostly because he didn’t know why he was saying them. He didn’t think he still had to say that. Unless... “Are we not friends?” he asked.

She shrugged. “Most men who want to be friends with me are after something else.”

Dozens of terrible scenarios flashed through Newt’s too fast mind. He started to move away from the bed. “No--”

She looked over her shoulder and reached back to grab his arm to stop his retreat. “No, nothing like that.” She gave him a real smile and a small chuckle. “Haven’t you heard the story? I thought everyone knew. The reason I was reassigned: one of the senior researchers at my last Shatterdome tried to... persuade me to say my paper topics were really his ideas.” She laughed again, cutting it off before it could get too big. “I broke his arm with my cane.”

Laughter burst out of Newt like a rocket. Gottlieb even smiled. “Oh, that is too good!” he laughed, nearly rolling on the floor. “You only got reassigned? Nothing else?”

“Two weeks docked pay, a pittance. What were they going to do?” she asked. “Fire the greatest scientific mind in this war? Then who would stop the Kaiju?” She paused for a moment, then said, “One of the greatest minds.”

Newt beamed, then moved his attention to her ice packs. They were still cold enough. “After a few minutes, I want you to try and bend your leg a little. Don’t want you getting stiff.” She nodded.

“Herta,” she said suddenly.

“Huh?”

“The H,” she said. “It stands for Herta.”

“Herta,” Newt whispered. He loved the way the name felt in his mouth. The way the soft H breathed into the R, with a sharp T giving it spine. It sounded like her.

“If you please,” Herta said. “Don’t call me Herta in front of other people. I fought long and hard for my degree and I am very proud of it.”

“Right.” Newt wanted to smile wider, but his face was resisting. “Only I get to call you Herta.”

“You and my mother,” she said.

“What about your father?”

She looked away from him again, staring at the wall. “He doesn’t call me anything. We don’t speak,” she clarified. “He and I are of differing views. He believes the Anti-Kaiju Wall will save us. I remember when the Anti-Fascist Wall nearly killed us all. We can’t go backward. We win, or we die.”

It started as love at first read, then it was love at first sight. Now Newt knew he was completely, totally lost to this woman. He was loving every second of it.

**  
  
**

5.

“Yeah!” Newt shouted. “Woohoo! Oh, look at the wrist action! He’s gonna tear through the hull!”

“Nonsense,” Herta snapped back. They were in the mess watching the latest attack on the giant screen. While most others watched in horror, K-Science was there to see what knowledge they could possibly glean from the encounter. Newt, of course, was watching like some rabid football fan. “Cherno Alpha has the thickest armor of all the active Jaegers. A breach of the hull is nearly impossible.”

Newt held up a finger. “ _Nearly_ , is that what you said? It’s what I heard.”

“Stop being such a child!” she hissed.

“And you stop being such a kill joy. Just look at Atticon! Okay? Spikes and pincers covering the whole torso! No way that isn’t designed to decimate armor.”

“I believe your assertion to be false,” she said. “I worked on Cherno myself and I can tell you...”

Newt rarely tuned Herta out, when he did, it was something really important. Something he just said got his gears whirring. Designed...

Someone slammed into Newt and broke his concentration. He almost fell forward and his glasses slipped off his face, getting lost in the sea of legs. “Crap,” Newt said and got down to look for them. When he stood back up, Charlie Yelsen--one of Gamma Foxtrot’s pilots--was standing in front of him.

“Watch it,” Newt said without thinking. “Important K-Science going on here. Might help end the war.”

“Me watch it?” he said, his voice loud enough to be heard over the televised battle. “You’re the one cheering the fucking Kaiju! Don’t you have any respect?”

“I’m fascinated by Kaiju anatomy and it’s techniques. The more I observe, the more we’ll be able to improve the Jaeger’s abilities,” he said. “Do you want to win this war or not?”

“Oh don’t try that,” Charlie said, louder this time. He got right up in Newt’s face. Taller by at least half a foot (probably more) he pushed Newt into Herta, bringing her attention to the matter and making her sway unsteadily. “Everyone knows you’re obsessed with the Kaijus. I heard you cheering while people are dying! Why are you even here? Why help the effort to wipe those scum monsters of the face of our planet? Shouldn’t you be one of those fucking clerics at the fucking Church of the Breach?”

“Religion is illogical,” Newt said flatly. “God didn’t send the Kaiju, they came through an interdimensional Breach. And what’s wrong with me liking the Kaiju? The more I like them, the more I want to learn about them. The more I learn, the better I can help save the world. I’m here to stop them, same as you. I just use my brain instead of my brawn so I can see where you’re confused.”

Herta saw Yelsen’s arm cock back and stepped in front of Newt. “The high resolution screen helps us see weaknesses in both the Kaiju and the Jaeger so we can battle the former and fix the latter. Do you want a stronger weapon and a weaker opponent? Hit him, and you lose that chance.”

He shook his head. “Why do we even need you freaks? We’ve got thirteen other K-Sci specs here! What makes you any different?”

Herta lifted her cane and smacked it down into her opposite hand, holding it like a weapon. “Dr. Geiszler and myself are responsible for more scientific breakthroughs than the rest of K-Science combined. Without me, you wouldn’t even have the Jaeger.” She delivered these facts (yes, they were facts and you would never convince Newt any different; he and Herta were God’s gift to the PPDC) in a calm yet sharp voice that could cut through Yelsen like butter. “I suggest you locate yourself elsewhere.”

He didn’t look too shaken by her words, but he did take a half step back, eyes focused on her cane. “You wouldn’t,” he said.

“Really?” she asked. “Why don’t you call over to the Tokyo Shatterdome and speak with Dr. Channing? I’m sure he would be more than happy to tell you about his broken ulna.” She lifted the cane from her palm. “I am perfectly willing to do the same for you.”

With one last scowl at Newt, Yelsen retreated back into the crowd. Newt stood behind Herta, his jaw literally on the floor. And she just went back to watching the battle! Like nothing happened. Oh no, Newt wasn’t going to let this go.

He stepped closer to her. “Herta,” he whispered so only she could hear. “That. Was amazing.”

“Blowhard,” she said. “I see them every day. Nothing to concern yourself with.”

He took another step and reached out to touch her arm. They were friends, best friends, Newt was sure of it, but he hardly ever touched her. Not since he helped with her leg, and that one time he offered a hand up when she had her spreadsheets all over the floor and couldn’t get up. He touched her arm and even through the thick fabric of her sweater and her shirt and her undershirt, he could feel the warmth of her skin.

“Herta,” he whispered. If he could only say one word for the rest of his life, it would be Herta. Okay two words, Herta and Kaiju. No three... he was getting off track. “I love you,” he said.

She didn’t move. If anything, she froze. It passed and she turned to look at him. “I bullied a bully. Not the most difficult of tasks. Save your amour for someone you really want.”

Newt shook his head. “I’ve loved you since the first time I saw your work. I loved you more when I met you, and I loved you even more when you told me your name.”

A moist, pink tongue came out to wet her lips as she made her decision. She took his hand and started leading him out of the mess. Newt spared one more glance to the fight. It was over, anyway. Atticon was dead and Cherno’s armor was fully intact.

Herta pulled him down the halls and into the lift. She pressed the button for the lab floor and waited for the doors to close. As soon as they did, she said, “Don’t lie to me, Newton. Please.” She stared straight ahead at the grungy doors of the lift.

Newt lifted her hand to his lips and rubbed it against his face. Her skin was so soft, he couldn’t believe it. He wanted to feel her all over, to let her touch him and blanket herself over his body. He’d never felt so connected to anyone and the fact that he and Herta still had separate bodies was a shame, in Newt’s opinion.

“I would never lie to you,” he said. “And I know I’ll probably break that promise. But if I do, it’ll be a lie about what I’m doing, or how many cups of coffee I’ve had, or who let me have sugar. It won’t be about you or how I feel about us. It also might be about my future research if I think you’ll make fun of it, or make me feel guilty for the way I title things.”

Her stony face cracked into a smile. Newt always knew he was doing something right when he made her smile. “The only other person who understood the HAL 9000 joke was Muhammed.”

“And we had a great laugh about it,” Newt said.

Herta shook her head, still smiling. “You’re a child,” she said, but it wasn’t her usual tone when she was yelling at him. Fond would be the word. She was fond of him. Newt could deal with that for now.

“Now I’m _your_ child.” He wrapped his arm around her shoulder and pulled his nose in to sniff her hair. With his eyes closed, he could only feel her fingers tangling through his.

**  
  
**

6.

It took a few weeks for Herta to invite him into her room. Newt was in no rush but it did give him a little fissure of pleasure when she nodded towards her end of the hall.

Everything inside Newt started vibrating with excitement. As a rule, Newt was hardly ever not moving. This was different though. He tried to get his shakes under control as best he could. He had to go slow with this or it might get him a kick in the head and he’d never be allowed back in.

Herta gently removed her glasses and set them down on the bedside table. She left Newt’s, as he needed them to see what he was doing. Calm fingers loosened Newt’s tie and unbuttoned his shirt. He tried to return the favor and found his hands were still too shaky, he rested them on her arms instead, rubbing her sweater up and down as she tried to stay calm.

“It’s been a while,” she whispered as she pushed his shirt off his shoulders where it crumpled into a pile on the floor. She ran her fingers over his tattoos for a moment, sighing at what she called his “vulgar imagery” but Newt knew she really loved them. They were as much a part of him as his love for the Kaiju.

“We’ll go slow,” Newt said, hands still shaking.

She smiled. “Not too slow.” Then she leaned in and kissed him.

Fireworks exploded behind Newt’s eyes. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her in, deepening the kiss. She was still mostly clothed and he was bare from the waist up, and already it was amazing. If all she wanted to do was kiss him, he would be fine with it. More than fine. Since the moment they met, he couldn’t imagine any other life but one with her. Arguing, hating each other, being madly in love, whatever, he would take it.

She removed her own clothes and pushed Newt back towards the bed. Slender hands opened his button fly and slid his trousers down his legs. Newt tried to reach for her to get more kisses and she held him down with a hand on his hips. Buttercream skin soft and pale from years indoors slid over his. She looked so cold but Herta was the warmest person Newt knew, her skin could light a thousand fires.

She climbed on top of him and he felt his cock rub against her clit. Newt moaned loudly, his hands latched onto her hips. There was a soft chuckle from above him. “I take it it’s been a while for you as well.”

She pulled back and grabbed a small tube of lube from the bedside table. Her hand on his cock made Newt groan again. “I’m sorry...” he panted. “Don’t try to draw this out too much. I don’t want to disappoint you.” One more squeeze and the hand disappeared. A tight heat surrounded him and Newt moaned again.

It didn’t last long, but they were both satisfied. Afterwards, Herta laid on his chest, her bad leg thrown over his belly; the small amount of pudge he had was a good cushion for her sensitive knee. Newt stared up at the ceiling, completely at a loss for words, which was rare for him. He always knew what to say and even if he didn’t he would say stuff anyways.

“I love you,” he whispered. Herta just hummed softly.

**  
  
**

7.

Six months later, Newton was in the lab before Herta. Not the strangest of occurrences since their relationship began and they frequently spent nights together. She would linger over Newton’s glorious coffee machine and he would beat her into the lab and gloat about it for the rest of the day. Today was different.

She stopped by her room to collect any messages before heading in, leaving Newton to get dressed. On his own, this task usually took about fifteen to twenty minutes (he kept getting distracted and ended up putting on two different shoes) and she was sure to be in before him. She found a letter inside the little mailbox next to the door. Recognizing the PPDC seal, she opened it immediately. The contents of the letter were what made her late.

_Request for transfer._

She read it over and over again as she trudged down the hall. Transfer. Transfers for K-Science didn’t work like it did for the rest of the PPDC. Soldiers were told where to go, and they would damn well like it there. Scientists were wooed. This facility had a newer mass spectrometer and twenty extra square feet of dorm space; wouldn’t she please consider them?

Just a few months ago, she would’ve weighed the pros and cons of moving to a new facility and made a decision based on the data. Now... She shook the thoughts away. She couldn’t get emotional about this. Simply because Newton was a very large check in the pro Lima column, didn’t mean she couldn’t be objective. A man had never changed her before and she wouldn’t let this one. She had some serious thinking to do.

She arrived at the lab to find Newton sitting on her desk swinging his feet like the child he was. “There you are,” he said. “What took you so long?”

She quickly shuffled around the letters in her hand, hiding the PPDC seal. “Went to fetch my post.”

“Anything good?”

“No,” she said, swatting his arm with the letters to get him off her desk. “In today’s modern age, I simply can’t believe junk mail is still a problem. And yet.”

No one else was in the lab, so Newton leaned over and pecked her quickly on the cheek before retreating to his work station. She felt the blush rising in her cheeks. She would never get used to that. Perhaps she wouldn’t have to...

The day wore on as usual. Herta learned how to tune out Newton’s babbling months ago and only used the white noise when she needed to concentrate; she feared she wouldn’t be able to do that at all today. She cleared a small section in the bottom corner of her board and started writing out pros and cons as they came to her. She wrote them in Russian (it seemed fitting, as the Vladivostok Shatterdome was trying to woo her at present) and Newton didn’t read Russian. She needed to make the decision on her own and couldn’t involve him until later.

“Herta,” Newton said.

She turned to snap at him--he knew her feelings about using her first name around others--and saw the lab empty. Glancing at her watch, it was well past six. Most of the other scientists cleared out by five thirty at the latest. It was just them.

“Yes?” she asked.

He nodded towards the pro con list on the board. “Made your decision yet?”

“How could you possibly--”

“They sent me a letter too.” Newton rifled through his bag until he found the crumpled piece of paper, the PPDC logo watermarked on the back. “A few weeks ago, I overheard the Marshal on the phone with Vladivostok, giving their Marshal permission to contact you. I sent them an e-mail, saying I was interested in going to their facility. You shouldn’t have to base your career decisions on me, so I decided to base mine on you! Where ever you decide to go, I’ll go with you.” He beamed at her. “We’re a team! We’re going to stop the Kaiju together, and I don’t mind you deciding where we’re going to do it.”

Herta didn’t know what to think. She knew Newton was... fond of her, but she never expected something like this. What scientist would leave their career decisions in the hands of someone else? Dr. Newton Geiszler, apparently. After years of fighting to get where she was, she’d forgotten how selfless people could be. And wasn’t that why she was doing this? The whole of humanity working to save itself.

She only had one question. “Since when do you read Russian?”

Newton smirked. “The Kaidanovskys are at Vladivostok. They’re big into the Ukrainian Hardhouse scene. My uncle helped pioneer most of those sounds and we bonded over it when I first met them. Since we’re going to Vladivostok, I figured now was a good time to brush up on my Russian.” His eyes lit up. “Sasha and I can jam!”

He started playing an air guitar and romping around the room like a lunatic. Herta allowed herself a small chuckle. Could she really have all of this? For years, she was told: career or family, never both. While she wasn’t thinking about children any time soon (or possibly ever) Newton was... bracing. She enjoyed his company and he enjoyed hers. She might even say it was love.

**  
  
**

8.

No matter what happened, they were always transferred together, which Newt loved. Word traveled fast between the Shatterdomes, and only six months after they got together, he and Herta were considered “inseparable.” Every Marshal knew it would get them exactly nowhere to request one and not the other. Sydney tried it and the scathing reply Herta sent them had Newt in fits of laughter for days.

One life goal had been completely accomplished: work with Dr. Herta Gottlieb. One big check in that box. Now all they had to do was stop the Kaiju and Newt’s life would be complete. He never imagined it being complete without her. Sure, they fought and called each other stupid, but it didn’t mean anything. They could hate each others ideas and still be in love. It totally worked for them. He’d never heard her say as much, but she didn’t need to.

The downside of living with her was watching her in pain. Where ever they were assigned, Newt had to watch her get worse and worse. Too many hours on her feet in the lab, not enough time for any sort of physical therapy to combat muscle loss, and he wasn’t even going to think about the weather. After they won this, he was going to move them somewhere dry. Somewhere she would never hurt again.

Over the next five years, Herta and Newt watched their department shrink. The funding was harder to come by, but the other scientists were abandoning ship faster than the PPDC could recruit them. Some left to work on the wall, others simply left and retreated inland where the Kaiju were just a problem for another part of the world. As the fight looked more and more fruitless, Newt and Herta fought harder and harder. When the news came in that the program was being shut down, they were the last remaining K-Science team.

They moved their things into the Hong Kong Shatterdome and were almost immediately accosted by the Kaidanovskys. “Gottlieb!” Sasha cried and grabbed Herta.

“Hello, Sasha,” she winced as the Ranger held her just a little too tight.

“It has been too long!” Sasha said. They started jabbering in rapid-fire Russian as Sasha held on to Herta’s hand. Herta had very strict boundaries about who was allowed to touch her (mostly Newt) but the Kaidanovskys were a force to be reckoned with. They seemed all scary when you first saw them, but deep down they were some of the nicest people in the program. It was hard not to love them.

Newt was talking with Aleksis when the klaxon alarm sounded. A voice came over the loudspeakers, “Kaiju incursion, Sydney. Repeat: Kaiju incursion, Sydney.” They all bustled to the nearest viewing station in time to watch the Kaiju bust through the Sydney wall.

Things moved quickly from there. As soon as the attack was over, Newt and Herta received orders to go and collect samples from the corpse. They piled into the helicopter and were on their way. Even as Newt calculated what he’d need--any and all viable organs, and he wanted to find that weird purple organ (he didn’t know what it was for, but he had a theory) and possibly some unique pieces from the Kaiju that aided in its breach of the wall--he started rooting around the helicopter for the spare blankets they kept in here. He put it over his and Herta’s legs. Shared body heat would help keep her muscles loose and lessen any pain. He wasn’t sure how attentive he’d be in the coming days and he needed to do as much as he could now.

She squeezed his leg in thanks, and they continued their journey to Sydney.

**  
  
**

9.

After the Breach was closed, Newton promptly announced his goal to sleep for a week. There were medical checks first (Drifting with Kaiju wasn’t the best for any healthy brain, let alone Newton and Herta’s high functioning minds) and once they were cleared, Newton dragged them to their room and fell into a near comatose sleep.

Herta slept for six hours, at most. It was a lot more sleep than they usually got, and her mind was too abuzz to really rest. She spent hours lying in the bed with her leg supported on her body pillow and Newton’s suffocating heat pressed against her back. She held his arm to her chest and waited for him to stir.

His fingers twitched a few times, then finally he yawned widely. He pulled her closer and buried his nose in her hair. “Hi,” he mumbled, sleep thick in his voice.

“I did not appreciate the suicide note,” she whispered.

Newton’s whole body tensed up before relaxing slightly. “You’re not even giving me a little time to recover before we tackle that, are you?”

Herta wanted to shove him away. Push his arm off her and stalk out of the room. Just for a little bit, just long enough to give her some mental space to think and process. Instead, she gripped Newton’s arm tighter; she didn’t think she could let go of him if she tried.

“The first year of our relationship, I submitted to your affections,” she said. “It’s war, I told myself. Wartime relationships are always heated and passionate. As soon as the world calmed down again, you’d lose interest and I could go back to not caring what anyone thought of me. When I managed to hold your interest for the long term...” She gripped Newton’s arm tighter, her fingernails digging into his skin and possibly bruising. Newton groaned and shifted a little but she didn’t care. “I was no longer afraid you’d leave. I was afraid only one of us would survive the end of this. And that was something I refused to do. When my predictive model was correct and the end began, I was amazed. We were both still alive.” Her jaw hardened even as tears welled in her eyes. “Then I find you connected to a neural bridge made of junk, half out of your mind.”

This time she did move. Sitting up, she threw Newton’s arm off and turned to glare down at him. “How could you do that? After everything? You’d leave me just to prove you were right!”

To his credit, Newton didn’t say anything. Even with his inability to communicate with any human other than Herta, he was surprisingly empathetic when he put his mind to it.

“Don’t you dare do anything like that again, Newton,” she snapped at him, but her heart wasn’t in it. “If you die before I do, I will never forgive you.”

Newton nodded. “Deal.”

Having said what she needed to say, Herta nodded and lay down across his chest. His arms wrapped around her and they didn’t say anything for a few minutes.

“What now?” Herta whispered.

“It’s obvious,” Newton said. “We move to California--the weather will be good for your leg--you get a professorship at Berkeley or something, and I’ll work at a think tank.” He smiled to himself. “Maybe I’ll cure cancer next.”

Herta laughed into his chest and nodded. “I did get an offer from Berkeley already. Two hours after the Breach closed. They said I would be instrumental in rebuilding their math department.” Suddenly, she lifted her head and narrowed her eyes. “Have you been reading my mail again?”

**  
The End**


End file.
